Mitsubishi: Reports of us staying out of the Nissan-Honda merger are not true

Hans
Hans · 2025-02-04 12:17:28

Mitsubishi Motors, which is part of the wider Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance and is 24% owned by Nissan (down from 34% following a share buyback by Mitsubishi Motors in November 2024), has refuted news reports alleging that it is not keen on joining the Nissan-Honda merger.

The news was published by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun last month, claiming that Mitsubishi Motors wants to maintain its current structure to focus on Southeast Asia, where it enjoys a competitive edge over Nissan.

Yesterday, CEO Takao Kato told Japanese media, “That was not an announcement made by our company. We continue to explore a wide range of options and are evaluating the best ways to maximize the benefits of collaboration with Nissan and Honda.”

Kato also emphasized that this does not mean Mitsubishi Motors has decided to join Nissan and Honda in the merger, as all three companies are still conducting their own evaluations.

Mitsubishi Motors was supposed to make a decision by the end of January 2025, but this obviously didn’t happen. Kato explained that the timeline given earlier was based on the condition that Nissan and Honda would finalize their decision on the integration by then.

“Since discussions and announcements by Nissan and Honda were delayed, our review process was also postponed accordingly,” said Kato during yesterday’s announcement of Mitsubishi Motors’ third quarter results for financial year 2024.

Mitsubishi Motors’ decision to be part of the combined Nissan-Honda holding company will depend on “whether our strengths—such as PHEV technology, the ASEAN market, and our new pickup truck—will be effectively utilized, and how we can gain benefits in areas where we are less experienced, such as intelligent technology and sales in the North American market.”

The Renault-Nissan Alliance was established by Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 1999. In 2005, Ghosn took on the additional role of CEO at Renault. In 2016, the Alliance was expanded to include Mitsubishi Motors.

By November 2018, Ghosn was caught up in a dramatic legal struggle with Nissan’s ‘old guards’ who resisted his push for deeper integration with Renault, leading to charges of financial misconduct against him. Since then, the three-way Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors Alliance has been slowly unraveling.

In December 2024, Nissan and Honda signed an MoU to begin discussions on the creation of a joint holding company. While both Nissan and Honda brands will continue to operate separately, they will become wholly owned subsidiaries of the new Honda-Nissan joint holding company. The president of the new entity will come from Honda, suggesting that Honda will be the dominant player in the partnership.

The merger was reportedly encouraged by the Japanese government, which wants to fend off China’s (Taiwan) Foxconn from acquiring Nissan.

Hans

Hans Head of Content

Over 15 years of experience in automotive, from product planning, to market research, to print and digital media. Garages a 6-cylinder manual RWD but buses to work.

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